Disagreement Over Mammography Task Force Study

By Kelley Luckstein

When a government-appointed panel of experts released new guidelines last month calling for fewer routine mammograms, they were met with public confusion, political outrage, and a media storm that left women and their doctors with conflicting messages…

"It's a judgment call, really, and the evidence is mixed," said Heidi Nelson, a professor of surgery at the Mayo Clinic who was not part of the task force but lead the study that informed its recommendations. "I know some women who completely freak out." Nelson highlighted the need for more studies into the harms of mammograms. "The science should be driving the use of mammography, not other things," she said.